09.10.2024RiskOn 2024: Transforming Uncertainty into Opportunity

The second edition of the RiskOn Hackathon was hosted again by the Department of Finance in collaboration with UZH’s Innovation Hub. Students from universities across Switzerland worked on real-world risk management challenges, with proposals evaluated by a jury of leading figures from the Swiss Finance Industry.

RiskOn is an innovative initiative that brings together students and finance industry professionals to tackle real-world risk management challenges. The event aims to foster the development of risk management in Switzerland by combining the fresh perspectives of Master's and Executive Education students with the expertise of seasoned professionals. Participants collaborate to create innovative solutions addressing non-financial, financial, and digital risks.

Winning teams receive funding and support to develop their ideas into Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) or Proofs of Concept (PoC) within six months.

Prof. Walter Farkas launched this project in 2023, which is co-headed by him and Daniel Fasnacht. It provides students with a unique opportunity to gain practical experience, network with industry leaders, and potentially co-author academic papers with professors from the University of Zurich.

This blend of practical application and academic involvement makes RiskOn a valuable platform for nurturing the next generation of risk management professionals while addressing current industry challenges.

Challenges 2024

Students chose one of the following challenges to work on:

1. Use of new technologies for risk events classification and analysis
2. Fraud Risk Detection – How artificial intelligence can help?
3. How can AI be leveraged to enable CRO employees to work more efficiently?

Fifteen teams (53 talented students from 8 leading universities) submitted innovative proposals addressing these critical industry challenges, showcasing the next generation of risk management solutions.

Laila Hassan, Master Student at the Department of Finance and her teammates won the first prize in the category: Use of new technologies for risk events classification and analysis.

Award Winner Team:
Laila Hassan; Master in Banking and Finance, University of Zurich
Feng Jiang; Master in Quantitative Finance, University of Zurich
Florian Pauschitz; Master Computational Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich
Yang Qian; Master of Computational Science, University of Zurich
Emmanuel Tandu; Master of Advanced Studies in Finance, University of Genève

Congratulations, Laila! How did you learn about the Hackathon and what was your motivation to join?

I heard about it from a friend, who suggested we sign up. The hackathon focused on topics of applied risk management, which appealed to me. I saw it as a fun competition to participate in.

How did you choose your team and the challenge you wanted to work on?

We could choose from three challenges, and I opted for one that involved hands-on AI implementation. The teams were set up by the organizers, to ensure that we had interdisciplinary skills. I ended up with a team of five people, each from a different master's course relevant to the challenge.

I first met my team members when we had a call with Pictet, the sponsors of the challenge we chose. They briefed us on the challenge, expectations, and main points to keep in mind. Our challenge was to optimize risk categorization and, subsequently, analysis according to various categories and levels, focusing on prevention, intensity, and likelihood of events.

How was your general experience of the Hackathon, and how did you split the teamwork?

We divided the work into two main parts. The first part involved categorization & classification, which Yang and I worked on. We developed two approaches to achieve our solution: a basic coding solution that's easily implementable but requires more maintenance, and a machine learning solution that needs less maintenance and is faster but requires a larger dataset to be accurate.

Our input was the "description" of risk events written by humans. We looked for keywords in the description and title to assign categories. The manual model needed to be regularly updated, while the machine learning model learned words and phrases associated with categories, allowing for more nuanced classification.

The second part focused on risk analysis for prevention, which Flo, Feng, and Emmanuel worked on. They handled statistics, regression, and time-series analysis. Their goal was to export a report and make it readable and understandable, including a heat map showing the probability and impact of events.

Now that you have won the funding to further develop your ideas, what are the next steps?

We're in the process of setting up meetings to develop our ideas further with our contacts at Pictet.

What are your personal takeaways from participating in the Hackathon?

I would definitely recommend participating. It's an excellent opportunity to apply what you learn in class to a real-world problem. While it might seem overwhelming at first, the process activates all your knowledge and understanding, which was very rewarding. The power of interdisciplinary collaboration was impressive and illuminating, and the whole experience just provided a boost in confidence, especially since we won. But even if you don't win, it's a very valuable experience, as it’s about learning, growing and improving. And lastly, I made so many new friends. I was an all-round great experience.

Laila, thank you very much for sharing your insights!

For more information about RiskOn, challenges, winners and impressions, please visit: RiskOn 2024

The RiskOn initiative aims to advance risk management in Switzerland, supported by sminds AG/N9 House of Innovation and the University of Zurich's Innovation Hub. Key business partners include Bank Julius Baer, LGT Bank Switzerland, Pictet, EFG International, and the Association of Swiss Cantonal Banks. In 2024, we are also joined by strategic partners such as the Swiss Financial Innovation Desk (FIND), the Swiss Risk Association, and the Innosuisse AI Innovation Booster.

Photo: Fabienne Felder, felderphotography.ch